Gates’ Warning

In response to “Soviet Union on Brink of Chaos, CIA Chief Asserts,” Dec. 11:

CIA Director Robert Gates was trotted out by the military-industrial complex to warn Congress that the Soviet military poses a threat, hoping to rekindle the Cold War. What a boon for our deplorable economy that would be, if true. The Soviet “hard-liners” in uniform would once again become a viable enemy, delivering an adrenaline shot to the manufacturers and suppliers of military hardware, goosing employment and ratifying President Bush’s boast that the economy would recover by this spring.

Is Gates’ report based on the type of intelligence he gathered in the past, which was exposed during his confirmation hearing as the kind of reports his employers wanted to hear?

Is it possible that the CIA would revert to covert activities encouraging the Soviet military to further destabilize the worst political situation in Russia since the Bolsheviks seized power?

We had better keep an eye on Gates and the CIA during the next few months.

EDMUND MORRIS

Santa Monica